Vinegar Tom Disturbs, Bewitches

The Department of Theatre and Dance celebrated Halloween with a presentation of Caryl Churchill’s Vinegar Tom, a subversive tale of witchcraft and female power running from Thursday, Oct. 31 through Saturday, Nov. 2.

Audience members entered the Seeler Studio Theatre in the Kevin P. Mahaney Center for the Arts to find they would be sitting “in the round,” a wooden circle in the center of the stage with seating on all sides. Quotations projected onto two walls of the theatre exemplified harsh opinions from throughout history about the weaknesses of the female sex, thought to be naturally wicked simply because of differences in biology. Though the play follows behaviors that lead to accusations of witchcraft in one rural town, show director and Professor of Theatre and Gender, Sexuality and Feminine Studies Cheryl Faraone noted that the play grapples with a much larger issue.

“It’s a play about the control of an assault on women,” Faraone said. “I think that unfortunately this is an issue that has come to the forefront today.”

“History has not moved on; the removal of the gibbet is merely cosmetic,” she added in the show’s program.

Churchill’s play follows the loose young woman Alice, played by Christina Fox ’13.5, and her mother Joan, acted by Erica Furgiuele ’15, two unfortunate victims of the times, falsely accused of witchcraft by a middle class couple after things start to go wrong on the couple’s farm. Though there are only four minor male characters, they hold the power over the women they encounter. Margery, portrayed by Meghan Leathers ’13.5, thinks she is driven mad by the women she knows, not acknowledging that her abusive husband may be the one pushing her over the emotional ledge. Susan, a friend of Alice played by Chelsea Melone ’15, is wracked with guilt and eventually also accused of witchcraft after she aborts her baby with a potion, impregnated by a man and forced to explore the extent of her control over her body. Betty, acted by Shannon Fiedler ’14, runs from the possibility of marrying a wealthy man she does not love, only to be convinced and brainwashed that she will only be safe from accusations if she submits to the life she so despises.

Faraone was also enthused about her dedicated ensemble.

“This is a very strong group. Some are seniors, some are brand new to me,” Faraone said. “I’ve been incredibly fortunate with these students. Their commitment to the play and its ideas has been absolute, and they take what Churchill has to say seriously. There is a lot of talent and a lot of smarts on that stage.”

Interspersed throughout the show were six songs composed by musical director and Affiliate Artist Carol Christensen, performed in three part harmony by singers Caitlin Rose Duffy ’15.5, Joelle Mendoza-Etchart ’15 and Dana Tripp ’14. The singers offered a stark visual and audial juxtaposition to the 17th century dress and speech of the play’s primary story, confidently strutting around the stage in modern day black cocktail dresses and colored tights and presenting intricately arranged, upbeat jazzy tunes. Despite this contrast, the lyrics of the songs soon proved to correlate with the themes of the main plot, discussing everything from the struggles of being a wife supporting a family to aging to a woman’s medical control over her body.  Faraone, who has previously collaborated with Christensen, was extremely pleased with the musical director’s vision.

“She absolutely gets the juxtaposition of music and lyrics that shows the narrow lenses through which women are viewed,” Faraone said. “The songs are entertaining and a big contrast to the rest of the show.

Fielder worked as an actor, choreographer and dramaturge for Vinegar Tom for her senior work, drawing on previous dance experience to bring the harmonies alive.

“I think my favorite aspect of Vinegar Tom might actually be the singers,” Fiedler said. “The music is absolutely beautiful, and the stark contrast between the upbeat melody and the dark lyrics forces the audience to really confront the issues at hand. Because the singers are contemporary, it also makes the audience acknowledge that the issues raised in the show are not just problems they had back then, but, unfortunately, issues that we are still dealing with today.”

Near the end of the play, in a particularly uncomfortable scene, Matt Ball ’14 entered the stage as Packer, an accomplished witch hunter known for his ruthless treatment of witches.  As Packer laid each suspected witch on an elevated platform and viciously prodded them for a sign of the devil, the intensity of the piece heightened to an extremely uncomfortable level, many in the audience forced to look away as the women’s legs were opened. Indeed, the scene should be unsettling, showing the subordination of Packer’s female accomplice as she justifies his actions and raises him to the level of a saint.

Faraone’s decision to stage the production in the round was brilliant, allowing for a range and depth of motion impossible to achieve with a typical 180-degree view.  Characters emerged from all four corners of the stage, cleverly moving around the circle to give each audience member a unique view of the action.  Actors and singers communicated directly to the psyche of the audience, hugging the edge of the circle and making eye contact with spectators. A ladder leading to the balcony seating area of the theatre maximized the spatial possibilities of the show, allowing the actors to move horizontally and vertically to present the tale.

Fielder, besides acting as Betty and Kramer in the play, performed all necessary research about the time period, treatment of women and witchcraft, communicating to the cast how each of their characters may have actually behaved or felt at the time.

In the end, it is not the actual hanging of the witches or the emotional torment coursing through the women’s minds that is the most disturbing. In the final scene, two females appear as Kramer and Sprenger, two real men who wrote The Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Hammer of Witches,” in 1486. This text, one of the most famous treatises on witches, challenges arguments against witchcraft’s existence and instructs magistrates on how to identify, question and convict suspected witches. The statements in this text came to be widely recognized as truth at the time. Fielder read the text in preparation for the play.

“It was a crazy experience to read it and find out what people really thought of women back then – their fear and the circular logic of finding out a woman as a witch,” Fielder said. “For example, if a woman has a spot on her she is a witch, but if she doesn’t have a spot she can still be a witch.  They basically made up the rules so that anyone accused of witchcraft could be hung for a witch.”

The actors, wearing tails and top hats, boldly asserted the reasons why women were more likely to be witches, listing the flaws of the sex and blaming women for all the wrongs in the world. They insisted that “cunning women are worst of all,” capable of greater wrongs.

This scene, coupled with the projected quotes from the beginning of the play, drove home the notion that prejudice against women has been all too real throughout history.

In the trio’s final song, “Lament for the Witches,” the singers hauntingly ask “Where are the witches?” before tauntingly answering, “Here we are, here we are.” Many characteristics of witchcraft in the play, such as heightened sensitivities, independence from men or individual intelligence, are very much present in women today, forcing women in the audience to ask if they would have been considered a witch just a few centuries ago. Faraone points out that women accused of witchcraft were generally those on the edges of society, displaying some fatal sign of difference.

“These were mostly single women struggling with poverty and age who found a scapegoat through witchcraft,” Faraone said.

Many left the theater having enjoyed the production, but feeling deeply unsettled by the theme. The entire ensemble did an excellent job of grappling with the difficult ideas of Churchill’s work, each actor sporting a British accent and a clear determination to make the play all it could be. In the end, they presented a cleverly designed, well-acted spectacle that left the audience with as many questions as answers, and oftentimes, those are the best plays of all.